7,111 research outputs found
Laser space rendezvous and docking system study continuation
Investigations were made of a configuration for a spaceborne laser radar (ladar) to meet the requirements for rendezvous and docking with a cooperative object in synchronous orbit. An analysis was completed of laser phase locking techniques, while experimental verification was made of pulse repetition frequency and resonant scanning control loops. Data measurements on a satellite mock-up were also made. The investigation supports the original contention that a rendezvous and docking ladar can be configured to offer a cost effective and reliable solution to envisioned space missions
Acoustoelectric current and pumping in a ballistic quantum point contact
The acoustoelectric current induced by a surface acoustic wave (SAW) in a
ballistic quantum point contact is considered using a quantum approach. We find
that the current is of the "pumping" type and is not related to drag, i.e. to
the momentum transfer from the wave to the electron gas. At gate voltages
corresponding to the plateaus of the quantized conductance the current is
small. It is peaked at the conductance step voltages. The peak current
oscillates and decays with increasing SAW wavenumber for short wavelengths.
These results contradict previous calculations, based on the classical
Boltzmann equation.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Acoustoelectric pumping through a ballistic point contact in the presence of magnetic fields
The acoustoelectric current, J, induced in a ballistic point contact (PC) by
a surface acoustic wave is calculated in the presence of a perpendicular
magnetic field, B. It is found that the dependence of the current on the Fermi
energy in the terminals is strongly correlated with that of the PC conductance:
J is small at the conductance plateaus, and is large at the steps. Like the
conductance, the acoustoelectric current has the same functional behavior as in
the absence of the field, but with renormalized energy scales, which depend on
the strength of the magnetic field, | B|.Comment: 7 page
Adiabatic transport in nanostructures
A confined system of non-interacting electrons, subject to the combined
effect of a time-dependent potential and different external
chemical-potentials, is considered. The current flowing through such a system
is obtained for arbitrary strengths of the modulating potential, using the
adiabatic approximation in an iterative manner. A new formula is derived for
the charge pumped through an un-biased system (all external chemical potentials
are kept at the same value); It reproduces the Brouwer formula for a
two-terminal nanostructure. The formalism presented yields the effect of the
chemical potential bias on the pumped charge on one hand, and the modification
of the Landauer formula (which gives the current in response to a constant
chemical-potential difference) brought about by the modulating potential on the
other. Corrections to the adiabatic approximation are derived and discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure
Acoustoelectric effect in a finite-length ballistic quantum channel
The dc current induced by a coherent surface acoustic wave (SAW) of wave
vector q in a ballistic channel of length L is calculated. The current contains
two contributions, even and odd in q. The even current exists only in a
asymmetric channel, when the electron reflection coefficients r_1 and r_2 at
both channel ends are different. The direction of the even current does not
depend on the direction of the SAW propagation, but is reversed upon
interchanging r_1 and r_2. The direction of the odd current is correlated with
the direction of the SAW propagation, but is insensitive to the interchange of
r_1 and r_2. It is shown that both contributions to the current are non zero
only when the electron reflection coefficients at the channel ends are energy
dependent. The current exhibits geometric oscillations as function of qL. These
oscillations are the hallmark of the coherence of the SAW and are completely
washed out when the current is induced by a flux of non-coherent phonons. The
results are compared with those obtained previously by different methods and
under different assumptions.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure
Controlled Dephasing of Electrons by Non-Gaussian Shot Noise
In a 'controlled dephasing' experiment [1-3], an interferometer loses its
coherence due to entanglement with a controlled quantum system ('which path'
detector). In experiments that were conducted thus far in mesoscopic systems
only partial dephasing was achieved. This was due to weak interactions between
many detector electrons and the interfering electron, resulting in a Gaussian
phase randomizing process [4-10]. Here, we report the opposite extreme: a
complete destruction of the interference via strong phase randomization only by
a few electrons in the detector. The realization was based on interfering edge
channels (in the integer quantum Hall effect regime, filling factor 2) in a
Mach-Zehnder electronic interferometer, with an inner edge channel serving as a
detector. Unexpectedly, the visibility quenched in a periodic lobe-type form as
the detector current increased; namely, it periodically decreased as the
detector current, and thus the detector's efficiency, increased. Moreover, the
visibility had a V-shape dependence on the partitioning of the detector
current, and not the expected dependence on the second moment of the shot
noise, T(1-T), with T the partitioning. We ascribe these unexpected features to
the strong detector-interferometer coupling, allowing only 1-3 electrons in the
detector to fully dephase the interfering electron. Consequently, in this work
we explored the non-Gaussian nature of noise [11], namely, the direct effect of
the shot noise full counting statistics [12-15].Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure
Coherent electronic transport in a multimode quantum channel with Gaussian-type scatterers
Coherent electron transport through a quantum channel in the presence of a
general extended scattering potential is investigated using a T-matrix
Lippmann-Schwinger approach. The formalism is applied to a quantum wire with
Gaussian type scattering potentials, which can be used to model a single
impurity, a quantum dot or more complicated structures in the wire. The well
known dips in the conductance in the presence of attractive impurities is
reproduced. A resonant transmission peak in the conductance is seen as the
energy of the incident electron coincides with an energy level in the quantum
dot. The conductance through a quantum wire in the presence of an asymmetric
potential are also shown. In the case of a narrow potential parallel to the
wire we find that two dips appear in the same subband which we ascribe to two
quasi bound states originating from the next evanescent mode.Comment: RevTeX with 14 postscript figures include
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